Friday, December 01, 2006

Salemtown/MetroCenter Starbucks Opens Today

I stopped by the new Starbucks pre-opening yesterday, had a triple breve and met the nice people who work at and run the North End's new coffee joint. The new store is comfortable (though probably not as comfortable as the 21st Av. Starbucks) and it is as-hip-as-mass-production-allows. The location at the corner of MetroCenter Blvd. and Dominican allows S-towners to slip in and out quickly via 3rd Av., but exiting the place to get on to 8th Av. via Dominican during rush hours might be a nightmare, since traffic spilling to and from 8th Av. from MetroCenter will be in full social darwinist mode. Nonetheless, many of us here are pleased to have our first coffee option on the North End.

2 comments:

  1. I went to the new S'bucks this morning about 7:40, using the '3rd Avenue backdoor approach' and ran into a nearly impossible chain of traffic turning right into Dominican from 8th and making a quick left on Vantage (first road to the left behind the 'On the Run').

    I had to be fairly aggressive and somewhat obnoxious in order to cut thru the traffic. On the other hand..sure is nice to have the coffee option so close by. I've been whining so long about coffee houses opening around here, I can't let a serious traffic-design snafu get in the way of my latte!

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  2. It is rather curious that they blocked off 5th behind S'bucks. If they had not done that, 3rd Av. traffic could enter and exit via Clay and 5th, which would probably cut down on the congestion at Dominican.

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